Hello and welcome to Chapter 10! Once again thank you for all the follows, favourites and reviews! Let's get on with this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Splatoon, Splatoon 2 or the Octo expansion.

*The next day, midday. *

"So, which is your favourite?"

"Hmm… not sure. The Squelchers are pretty good, but I really like the regular Dualies. Tenta's are… meh if I'm honest, useful for distracting someone but not really for actually splatting 'em." Katsuo said, leaning against a wall. He took a quick sip of his drink through its straw as he pondered Eight's question a bit more. The two were standing just outside the lobby in the square.

"It still confuses me not a single charger has those as a special." Eight remarked, taking a sip from her own drink. "And the Bamboozler doesn't count." She added, cutting off Katsuo before he had the chance to speak. He shrugged and the two stood in silence for a few moments before Katsuo resumed the conversation.

"Those Kensa Dualies are great! Dodge-rolling into a baller then charging into the other team and popping it for a splat then dodge rolling again and scoring more splats is so cool." He said enthusiastically. Eight giggled slightly.

"Sure. If rolling headfirst into a blaster is what you call cool." She said teasingly. Katsuo narrowed his eyes at her.

"Hey! That was only once!" He shot back. Eight giggled in reply, a teasing smile on her face.

"I know, I know. And I'm happy it was only once." Katsuo blinked and stared at her in confusion. "It means you learnt from your mistake. And that's how you get better right?" She asked him, her smile no longer teasing. Katsuo blinked and stared at her before a smile spread across his face.

"Yeah! Yeah it is!" He then grinned. "I'm still gonna get to S one day, you'll see!" He said cheerfully, pumping his free arm into the air which got a giggle out of Eight and she copied his arm pump.

"Yeah you will!" She said cheerfully, smiling at him. Katsuo's grin was suddenly replaced with a look of realization as his eyes widened. Before Eight could even ask, he spoke up.

"Hey Eight, could we do League battle together?" He asked. "I just thought that it'd be a great way for us to practice!" He added. "Plus… well… you know…" A blush spread across his face. "We'd get to battle together more… b-"

"Sure." Eight said with a beaming smile. "Wanna jump into a few games now?" she asked. Katsuo glanced down at his drink and stared at it for a few seconds before he downed what was left of it. Eight, having nearly finished hers, merely took one last long sip to finish it off before the pair quickly deposited the now empty cups into a nearby bin and eagerly jumped into their first League Battles.

*Roughly 2 hours later…*

"We did it! We got Bronze!" Katsuo said cheerfully, practically bouncing up and down from excitement as they exited the lobby.

"Yeah!" Eight said just as cheerfully, albeit she was more restrained in her physical reaction, only pumping her arm into the air.

"You were awesome Eight!" Katsuo added. "You're amazing with the charger!" Eight's smile grew slightly as she lowered her arm.

"Thanks Katsuo. You were pretty awesome with the Dualies too." She added. He blinked and stared at her, dropping his arm to his side.

"You think so?" He asked. She chuckled.

"If I didn't, why would I say it in the first place?" She asked playfully. "There were some mistakes you made, and some of the times you got splatted could've been avoided, but I could say the same about myself. We've both got a lot of room to improve, but with enough training and hard work we can do it!" She pumped her arm into the air again, a grin on her face. Katsuo nodded and also pumped his arm.

"Yeah! We'll show 'em!" He said. Eight raised an eyebrow.

"Show who?" She asked, a playful look on her face. Katsuo blinked and stared at her, his arm drooping a bit.

"Uh… uh… o-our opponents! That's who!" He said, thrusting his arm up again. Eight let out a soft chuckle and nodded.

"Yeah!" The two grinned at each other, and as they did so, both of them started blushing.

"Hey Eight?" Katsuo asked, lowering his arm.

"Yeah?" She asked, also lowering her arm. Katsuo felt his face heat up even more.

"I-I never got the chance to say it yesterday but… hanging out with you at Wahoo world was great." He smiled at her. Then he squashed his nerves and also added. "After all, it's not every day I get to go on a date with the cutest girl in Inkopolis." Oh squid that sounded so corny… please don't laugh at me…

Eight's eyes widened as far as they could as she looked at him, her cheeks rapidly turning a dark crimson. Then she smiled. A happy, warm smile that radiated naught but pure joy. "Well it's not every day that I get to go on a date with the nicest guy in Inkopolis either. There's also the added bonus that he's really handsome." She added with a wink.

Katsuo's face felt like it was on the verge of bursting into flames, but the boy couldnt've been happier. His face broke into a goofy grin even as his cheeks turned a dark crimson. "Thank you." He said, completely unable to think of another response to her compliment. Eight giggled.

"Wanna go grab some lunch?"

"Sure." Katsuo said with a nod and the two set off to the Crust bucket, walking side-by-side. As they did, Katsuo felt his hand brush up against Eight's a few times. Part of him was tempted to hold it, but before he could decide about acting on it, they reached the bucket. After getting food, the pair sat down at a nearby table. There they happily chatted away for a while before jumping back into Battles, eager to do the best they could.

And that's the chapter! Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review telling me what you thought. I hope to see you next week! We're getting close to the end of the story, just two chapters left! Any who, have a great day/night and see you next time!